2018 Winners

1st Place

2nd Place

3rd Place

Jen Wissler

My name is Jen Wissler from Tampa, Florida. My upcycle was inspired by my four year old daughter, Georgia, and a blouse I bought at a thrift store a few months ago. The blouse was never going to be good to wear as it was, but I bought it because I loved the floral embroidering and rhinestones that were already on it. This was the perfect opportunity to transform it. I happened to have enough of my favorite Michael Miller fabric lying around that was leftover from my daughter’s curtains I made for her before she was even born. Her nursery and current bedroom were decorated based on this fabric. It was kismet that it seemed to go perfectly with this top I found. I started upcycling garments over 10 years ago until I had two little ladies which slowed my sewing for a long time. I just got back into regularly sewing again so I found this challenge in perfect time to get motivated again. I used the tip from the Kick Off Post to seam rip to remove all pieces to gain more fabric. I often hastily cut all the edges and by doing this, I definitely gained more workable space. I will continue to use this tip in future projects.